About

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years?

Mercer’s acquisition of Evolve Intelligence, a talent strategy business in May 2018, negotiating a A$300m superannuation administration contract with First State Superannuation, managing Mercer’s response to requisitions from the Royal Commission into Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services and managing two significant financial services remediation programmes.

How do you suggest in-house lawyers build strong relationships with business partners?

Like all relationships, business relationships are built on trust and mutual value. Three aspects should be addressed to achieve this; keeping calm regardless of the circumstances, always manage expectations and provide user friendly advice.

In order for the business to see the in house legal department as a trusted adviser, each team member needs to be able to keep calm even in challenging circumstances. Whilst this takes time and experience to learn, simple mindfulness exercises can help. Also, try and put everything into perspective in the bigger picture and try and see the positive in every situation.

There are two aspects to managing expectations; timeliness and substance. On timeliness, it is better to under promise and over deliver than the other way. Similarly, it is counterproductive to constantly over deliver, as this creates unsustainable expectations going forward. On substance, there is a fine line between being realistic and alarmist – on the other hand clients won’t like it if you give the impression of a positive outcome upfront and then you can’t deliver.

In-house lawyers earn trust, by providing effective legal advice that takes into account the wider business and strategic context. In turn, this results in user-friendly and actionable legal advice that the wider business can benefit from while limiting business and regulatory risk and achieving positive business outcomes. To achieve this, lawyers must take initiative and invest the requisite time to learn and understand the strategic direction and challenges facing the business, and being prepared to provide holistic legal advice in this context.

What “legal tech” products do you currently utilise, and do you foresee implementing more of these in the near future?

Mercer’s business straddles high volume low value consulting and advisory work, as well as large scale multimillion-dollar administration and investment contracts. The rise in procurement departments has resulted in a significant increase in the number of consulting clients wanting to utilise their own vendor contract instead of Mercer’s standard terms and conditions. In order to manage the increased demands on the legal department dealing with increased contract volumes Mercer anticipates, subject to budget allowances, to implement a contract review automation platform called LawGeex. LawGeex is a tool that uses AI technology to review contracts. It operates to reduce a large proportion of administrative tasks for in-house lawyers, allowing us to focus on high value and high risk work.

What do you predict will be the biggest change in the legal market in your sector over the next few years?

The biggest change in the legal market over the next few years across all sectors would be the shortage of competent lawyers in the three to eight year experience bracket. Whilst AI and other technology-based legal tools are bringing about positive change in the profession, it also denies young lawyers the opportunity to develop the requisite skills and knowledge to perform legal functions.

To combat this challenge, Mercer is actively growing its own graduate and paralegal talent pool. It is important to invest in young lawyers and give them opportunities to broaden their skillsets and develop an in-depth understanding of the entire business and its legal issues and challenges.

What do you feel are the most effective techniques for getting the most out of external counsel, in terms of how to instruct them?

External counsel needs to be able to work as an extension of the in-house legal team. To get the most out of external counsel, the most effective technique is clear, consistent and open communication. From the beginning, it is important to take the opportunity to align external counsel with the business’s strategic priorities, challenges and risk tolerance to ensure a holistic, cost-effective and productive outcome. Equally important is setting expectations early and providing feedback regularly, directly and constructively. Mercer prefers to limit its legal panel to trusted firms with whom we have established close and longstanding relationships.

How much influence do you, as a chief legal counsel, have on the diversity and inclusions policies of your organisation?

I am extensively involved in settling Mercer’s diversity and inclusions policies to create meaningful strategic initiatives that integrate the broader people, the law and our business strategy. At Mercer, we believe that Diversity and Inclusion is broader than gender diversity. We strive to ensure all colleagues feel confident to bring their whole selves to work each day. To promote this culture, some of the initiatives we have developed across the business include our “dress for your day” dress code policy and #allrolescanflex flexible working initiative. Furthermore, we have several business resource groups such as “PRIDE in Diversity” to celebrate and support members from the LGBTIQA+ community, as well as our “Accessibility and Inclusion” group who promote a culture of inclusion for people with disabilities or special needs.

Mercer strongly believes that to continue to be a relevant, adaptive and innovative organisation, we must foster a diverse and inclusive workplace. I am committed to creating holistic well-designed policies that promote flexibility, combat unconscious bias and support the unique needs of different groups. Leveraging each employee’s unique abilities, valuing differences and encouraging a workplace built on dignity and respect is a strategic business imperative that is critical to ensuring our viability.

What do you feel is the best way to get more women into in-house legal leadership positions?

The best way to get more women into in-house legal leadership positions is through normalising flexible work practices across the business at all levels. Organisations need to trust their employees to work remotely and be fully effective. At Mercer, we achieve this through our #allrolescanflex policy, which offers flexibility for women and carers to balance their competing commitments.

I believe it is necessary to provide mentorship and support to help women confidently take on leadership positions. I recognise that it is imperative to successfully transfer knowledge from one generation to the next, to shape the leaders of the future. This knowledge comes in the form of understanding the strategic direction of the business, as well as how to navigate the personal and professional challenges that arise along the way.